Age Level: Grade K-3
Genre: The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred is a multicultural Latino literature book because it contains Spanish words and customs native to the Latino culture.
Summary:
The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred is a story about a group of animals that work together to make a delicious dessert.
Reflection:
The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred is a cumulative tale written like the classic nursery rhyme "The House That Jack Built." Each page builds upon the last with animals and their contributions first introduced in English ("This is the duck that went to the market", pg. 6) with subsequent pages containing Spanish translations in bold print ("This is the donkey that...carried the pato that went to the mercado..."pg. 8). The repetition and rhythm of this cumulative tale would not only make this book a wonderful read-aloud for young children, but it would serve as a tool for learning Spanish words. After reading the story, I added two new words to my Spanish vocabulary- cazuela (pot) and cabra (goat).
The illustrator, Rafael Lopez, uses folk art along with warm, primary colors to depict the animals and the cazuela brewing on the fire.
pg. 14-15
The color palette is reminiscent of ones used in Latino art and culture and is rich and warm like the dessert cooking in the pot. The drawings are over-exaggerated which show the liveliness of the animals as they prepare to cook the arroz con leche (rice pudding) to have at their fiesta at the end of the story. The end of the book, pages 26-27, gives the recipe for Arroz con Leche. This book is an A Pura Belpre Illustrator Honor Book as well as a 2012 Texas Library Association Reading List Book.
My text-to-self connection with this book is on page 18 with the lines, "The cazuela simmered and sputtered. It bubbled and burbled." The author chose to use alliteration at this point in the story because it builds tension. This is the climax, or high point, of the tale because the pot is about to boil over due to being left untended. The use of alliteration here reminds me of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" (a poem I had to memorize in tenth grade English class yet still remember to this day). An excerpt from the poem is, "While I nodded nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping , as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door..." The tension is building as the noise of the tapping becomes more intense on the door. Okay, maybe "The Raven" is a much more sophisticated comparison than a pot of rice pudding boiling over on the fire, but the use of initial consonants works well in both texts.
Teachers can use this book as a supplement for learning patterns of language, sequencing, Spanish language and vocabulary, and multicultural value. After reading this book in the classroom I would like to have students talk with their family about traditional recipes from their home and have the students bring them in to share with others. The students can share why the recipe is special to them and if it has any special memories associated with it. The recipes could then be compiled into books and distributed to the classmates for enjoyment at home.
Big Question:
In this story, the animals work together with the farm maiden to make the dessert. How do you work with others to complete tasks?
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Osborne, M.P. (1991). American tall tales. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc..
Age Level: Grade 3+
Genre: American Tall Tales is a traditional literature book because the tall tales within the book have exaggerated characters and are passed down through the oral tradition of storytelling.
Summary: This book is a retelling of American tall tales including famous characters such as Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry.
Reflection:
I have long enjoyed Mary Pope Osborne's "Magic Tree House" series so I thought I would read this book and see how well it compared to her other children's books. The best part of the book is the Introduction in which she explains the history of tall tales. American tall tales were born out of ways to depict the harsh environments of the United States frontier with outrageous feats and daring heroes. Most were oral stories passed down from the generations, many with no known author. Interestingly, the tall tale characters of Pecos Bill and Febold Feboldson were not told from oral traditions, but rather were created in magazine and newspaper articles and grew from the publication popularity. This book exposed me to new folk heroes I never heard of before including Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, Stormalong, and Mose. The author also explains her rationale for focusing on the "compassionate side" of many of the heroes in the book. However by changing or deleting some of the details from the original stories, she has left out circumstances and events that coincide with the context of the time and place in which the stories originated. "Softened" versions of the stories may be more sensitive for younger readers. However, I feel that older readers should be exposed to the incidents that occurred during the time frame in which these stories developed so that adolescents can compare and contrast life then and now and make their own judgments regarding the stories.
Mary Pope Osborne uses many examples of exaggeration and hyperbole (exaggerated exaggeration) for emphasis in her retellings of these American tall tales. For example, page 18, Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, says, "I'm a streak of lightning set up edgeways and buttered with quicksilver" referring to how quick she is. The author uses hyperbole with Stormalong on page 44, "He planted over five million potatoes and watered his whole crop with the sweat of his brow." Another example can be seen with Paul Bunyan's story on page 99, "[the baby's beard] was so big and bushy that every morning his poor mother had to comb it with a pine tree."
I remember hearing these stories as a young child, but have not read most since that time. Paul Bunyan as a baby having a beard and his mother having to comb it with a pine tree leaves a silly, funny, and totally fantastic image in my head that makes me have to almost laugh out loud. It is the outrageousness of these tales that makes them so memorable. It reminds me (text-to-self connection) of Biblical tales that I still remember to this day- Jonah and the Whale and Noah's Ark to name a few. These were both stories of incredible feats and outrageous events that stick in your mind. If Paul Bunyan's tale was told as, "He was a man that grew up to cut wood" it would be...well....boring. The same with Jonah's tale if it were told as, "He did not obey God, so he had to be taught a lesson. The end." People would not remember the stories and they could not be passed down through the generations.
Big Question:
Tall tales require the use of exaggeration and sometimes hyperbole to create larger than life characters, yet their feats are highly fictitious and unbelievable. This technique is also used in advertising to sell products. (Example: This cream can take years off your face.) How effective is this technique to sell products?
Osborne, M.P. (1991). American tall tales. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc..
Age Level: Grade 3+
Genre: American Tall Tales is a traditional literature book because the tall tales within the book have exaggerated characters and are passed down through the oral tradition of storytelling.
Summary: This book is a retelling of American tall tales including famous characters such as Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry.
Reflection:
I have long enjoyed Mary Pope Osborne's "Magic Tree House" series so I thought I would read this book and see how well it compared to her other children's books. The best part of the book is the Introduction in which she explains the history of tall tales. American tall tales were born out of ways to depict the harsh environments of the United States frontier with outrageous feats and daring heroes. Most were oral stories passed down from the generations, many with no known author. Interestingly, the tall tale characters of Pecos Bill and Febold Feboldson were not told from oral traditions, but rather were created in magazine and newspaper articles and grew from the publication popularity. This book exposed me to new folk heroes I never heard of before including Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, Stormalong, and Mose. The author also explains her rationale for focusing on the "compassionate side" of many of the heroes in the book. However by changing or deleting some of the details from the original stories, she has left out circumstances and events that coincide with the context of the time and place in which the stories originated. "Softened" versions of the stories may be more sensitive for younger readers. However, I feel that older readers should be exposed to the incidents that occurred during the time frame in which these stories developed so that adolescents can compare and contrast life then and now and make their own judgments regarding the stories.
Mary Pope Osborne uses many examples of exaggeration and hyperbole (exaggerated exaggeration) for emphasis in her retellings of these American tall tales. For example, page 18, Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, says, "I'm a streak of lightning set up edgeways and buttered with quicksilver" referring to how quick she is. The author uses hyperbole with Stormalong on page 44, "He planted over five million potatoes and watered his whole crop with the sweat of his brow." Another example can be seen with Paul Bunyan's story on page 99, "[the baby's beard] was so big and bushy that every morning his poor mother had to comb it with a pine tree."
I remember hearing these stories as a young child, but have not read most since that time. Paul Bunyan as a baby having a beard and his mother having to comb it with a pine tree leaves a silly, funny, and totally fantastic image in my head that makes me have to almost laugh out loud. It is the outrageousness of these tales that makes them so memorable. It reminds me (text-to-self connection) of Biblical tales that I still remember to this day- Jonah and the Whale and Noah's Ark to name a few. These were both stories of incredible feats and outrageous events that stick in your mind. If Paul Bunyan's tale was told as, "He was a man that grew up to cut wood" it would be...well....boring. The same with Jonah's tale if it were told as, "He did not obey God, so he had to be taught a lesson. The end." People would not remember the stories and they could not be passed down through the generations.
Big Question:
Tall tales require the use of exaggeration and sometimes hyperbole to create larger than life characters, yet their feats are highly fictitious and unbelievable. This technique is also used in advertising to sell products. (Example: This cream can take years off your face.) How effective is this technique to sell products?
